Fighter 8/ paladin 3/ blackguard 29
This player character build (fighter 8/ paladin 3/ blackguard 29, originally the Infernal Warrior by Nicholas Foley) is a charisma-based melee warrior, balanced and effective against many different types of foes. It has high saving throws, the ability to smite, and significant sneak attacks. It can also sweet talk when overt fighting is not the best option. This build was originally designed to focus in the longsword, but any one-handed weapon could be used. This build requires an alignment change between gaining levels 6 and 11. The Infernal Warrior is evil. A shard of absolute blackness dwells in his soul and cannot be removed. There is nothing so horrific than a paladin who has fallen from grace. As a character, they are dark army unto themselves. They bring dark magic and fighting skills that are truly terrifying as you know they will be used for the ruin of order and civilization. Basics Race: human Abilities: (final scores in parentheses) * Strength: 16 (18) * Dexterity: 10 * Constitution: 14 * Wisdom: 8 * Intelligence: 14 * Charisma: 14 (26) Alignment: lawful good, must change to evil Hit points: 325-520 (average 422.5) Saving throws: * Fortitude: 47 * Reflex: 36 * Will: 35 Vs. spells: +4 Level progression Classes by character level * 1–3: fighter * 4–6: paladin (last levels to require lawful good) * 7–10: fighter * 11–20: blackguard (first levels to require evil) * 21: fighter * 22–40: blackguard Ability increases * 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32: charisma * 36, 40: strength General feats by character level * 1: power attack, toughness * 3: knockdown or player's choice * 6: extra turning * 9: extra smiting * 12: divine might * 15: divine shield * 18: improved knockdown or player's choice * 21: epic weapon focus * 24: great charisma I * 27: great charisma II * 30: great charisma III * 33: great charisma IV * 36: improved sneak attack I * 39: improved sneak attack III Fighter bonus feats by character level (fighter level in parentheses) * 1 (1): cleave * 2 (2): weapon focus (one-handed weapon) * 7 (4): weapon specialization * 9 (6): improved critical (same weapon) * 21 (8): epic weapon specialization Blackguard epic bonus feats by character level (blackguard level in parentheses) * 24 (13): armor skin * 27 (16): epic fiendish servant * 30 (19): epic prowess * 33 (22): great smiting * 36 (25): improved sneak attack II * 39 (28): improved sneak attack IV Skills This build receives 215 skill points over its 40 levels. The skill ranks required by this build are the following. * hide 5 (at level 11 to gain blackguard) cross-class skill The other skills most important for this build are the following. Ranks are listed first, with the score modified by the relevant ability and the armor check penalty in parentheses. * discipline 43 (47) * persuade 43 (51) class skill for only paladin and blackguard * spellcraft 18 (20) cross-class skill * taunt 43 (51) class skill for only paladin and blackguard * tumble 20 (2) cross-class skill This leaves 0 unused skill points. Stats Attack bonus In the absence of magical enhancements, whether from items or spells, this character's attack bonus (AB) when wielding a mundane version of the focus weapon is composed of the following elements at level 40. * 30: base attack bonus * +4: strength modifier * +3: feats (weapon focus) 37 AB for attacks per round of +37/+32/+27/+22, with the top bonus reaching +45 when smiting If the character is permitted a weapon with a +5 enhancement bonus and gear that provides a +12 bonus to strength and charisma (increasing the ability modifiers by 6), the attacks per round become +48/+43/+38/+33, with smites going up to +62. If the character is additionally permitted to reach the +20 attack bonus cap and acquires haste, the attacks per round become +63/+58/+53/+48/+63, with smites going up to +77. Armor class In the absence of magical enhancements, whether from items or spells, this character's armor class (AC) when wearing (mundane) full plate and a tower shield is composed of the following elements at level 40. * 10: base AC * +8 full plate base AC * +3 tower shield base AC * 0: dexterity bonus * +2: armor skin * +4: tumble 27 AC, or 35 with divine shield If the character is permitted items with a +5 bonus in each of the five categories (armor, deflection, dodge, natural, and shield) as well as a +2 bonus to dexterity and +12 to charisma, the AC total becomes 53, or 67 with divine shield. If the character is instead permitted a +20 bonus in each category (and the bonuses to abilities), the AC total becomes 128, or 142 with divine shield. Notes * High damage can be inflicted, thanks to +10 damage from strength and specialization, +8 divine damage from divine might, and +13d6 (average +45.5) damage from sneak attacks. Additional damage can come from smite evil (+6) or smite good (+58), each usable three times per day. * Even though the Infernal Warrior uses turn undead for three effects–''divine might'', divine shield, and turning undead–there should be no shortage of uses, as the build gets 17 per day. * The epic vrock summoned at character level 40 has 25 hit dice and 375 hit points. * The idea for the original build came from the real-life ghoulish historical figure Gilles de Rais, a Marshal of France who was executed as a serial killer of children. External links * Original build archived from the NWN build vault Fighter 08/ paladin 03/ blackguard 29